A Certain Level 5's Best Friend
by Animan10
Summary: What if Accelerator had lived a more normal life? What if he had at least one person he could call his friend, his best friend? What if that best friend was Touma Kamijou? This is the story of the friendship that could have been if they met earlier on better terms.


**Got this idea from the Railgun S scene were Accelerator imagined what a normal childhood would have been like. As I'm sure many others noticed, the boy that pulled Accelerator by the hand looked suspiciously like Touma. So I though to myself, "What if it was?" Thus this was created. Just my take on what the story would have been like if things were different.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters and setting of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.**

* * *

He had always been alone. No one wanted to get near him out of fear. The few that did want to get close were idiots. All they ever wanted to do was fight him, a little kid, and see if they had a shot, which of course they did not. They realized that after a single touch when they lost an arm or an eye. He was the strongest in all of Academy City, but it was not at all as glorious as one would think. He used to have a name, now all he had was a title.

Now hear he stood in the middle of the park, surrounded by a group of idiots just a little order than himself, trying to prove themselves. The people around them ignored the predicament, not wanting to get involved. After all, who would want to get caught up in a scuffle between a few stupid kids? It's not like he couldn't handle the situation himself. Just a single touch and the fight would be over. He just had to let them throw the first punch.

"Hey buddy! I've been looking for you!" an unfamiliar yet friendly voice called out.

Looking up, the boy found himself facing another boy his age. He had black spiky hair and wore a red tee-shirt, a stark difference from his own straight white hair and blue tee-shirt. His face was that of a guy greeting a friend he was planning on meeting. The strange part was that that face was directed at him. However, the most shocking part of the encounter was that the boy grabbed his hand with his own right hand… and nothing happened.

"Thanks for keeping him company for me guys," the black haired boy said as he led the white haired boy along, "We'll be on our way."

The white hair boy wanted to protest, to tell this stranger to stop. However, he was too shocked by what this stranger had managed to do to say anything. It was only after the group of idiot challengers were out of sight that the stranger let go of his hand, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The albino stared at this stranger for a few seconds before for the stranger turned to him and asked the oddest question.

"Are you alright?"

The albino didn't bother to answer, instead asking his own question, "Why did you help me? I don't even know you."

"Do I need a reason to help someone?" the stranger asked rhetorically.

"You didn't have to though. My esper ability is Vector Manipulation. Anything with direction that comes in contact with me can be reflected away. Not to mention I'm the strongest Level 5. If those guys tried to hurt me they would just hurt themselves," the boy responded, "How did you not get hurt?"

"Is that so?" the stranger mused, "Well, the thing is, I'm a Level 0, but I'm not necessarily powerless. For some reason, my right hand can negate anything supernatural that it comes in contact with."

The boy could barely believe it. There was someone with the power to negate someone else's power? The thought of it was unthinkable. And yet, that person was standing right in front of him, the one person that could get past his Vector Manipulation, the one person who could touch him, the one person who he could interact with an not hurt.

The stranger noticed the boy was a bit unnerved. Looking around, the stranger noticed an ice cream truck nearby. He quickly ran over to the truck and asked the man operating it for something to share with the boy. The man gladly gave him a sharable Popsicle on the house, something that the stranger considered extremely lucky for his standards. He then ran back to the boy, broke the Popsicle in half, and offered one to the boy.

"Here, it will make you feel better. I'm Touma Kamijou by the way," the stranger offered, identifying himself, "What's your name."

"I don't have a name," the boy lamented.

"What do I call you then?"

The boy smiled as he took the Popsicle and answered, "Just call me Accelerator."

* * *

To the surprise of many people in Academy City, Touma and Accelerator became friends rather quickly. News spread quickly of the friendship between the strongest esper in Academy City and the unluckiest guy in the world. The two of them hung out nearly every day and were as close and two peas in a pod. The two even had their own secret handshake that solely involved the use of their right hands. They had lunch together whenever they had the chance and went to the movies every Monday. Superhero movies were an especially favorite genre for the two friends.

That was not to say they did not have their hard times. When Touma met the nun named Index and lost his memory in a resulting accident involving her, he tried to hide his amnesia from everyone so they would not worry about him. However, the one person he couldn't fool was Accelerator, who saw right through his illusion.

"Come on, we're best friends," Accelerator told Touma in Heaven Canceler's hospital, "You honestly thought you could keep this hidden from me."

"Honestly thought I could keep up that illusion," Touma lamented.

"This coming from the guy whose right hand breaks every illusion it comes in contact with," Accelerator joked, prompting the two to laugh at Touma's rotten luck.

After that, Accelerator helped Touma to live with his amnesia and hide it from others by providing him with all the information that the #1 had on his best friend. The only real issue was keeping his amnesia hidden from people only Touma knew. He even helped Touma deal with his new freeloader, providing the funds to keep her fed with her insatiable appetite.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of their struggles. Accelerator was continuously given challenges by idiots trying to prove themselves. He always had Touma there to help him, giving him an excuse to leave, but he was sick of it. He was sick of having to drag Touma into his problems, even if his that was the kind of person he was. He was sick of being challenged to fights when he just wanted to live his life. He was sick of accidentally hurting people because they just had to fight him.

Then, there was the Level 6 Shift experiment. Some researchers approached him and asked them to participate in the experiment to create the first Level 6. They told him all he had to do was do a couple of fights, and he would level up to a Level 6. While he didn't think he needed any more power as Academy City's strongest esper, what really sold him was the idea of no one challenging him to fights anymore. If he could reach a level that high and unattainable, no one would want to challenge him since he would be completely and undeniably out of his league. If that happened, he could just live his life the way he wanted to. Thus, he agreed to the experiment, something he soon came to regret dearly.

When he arrived for the first experiment, he was presented with a clone of the #3 esper, Mikoto Misaka, Misaka 00001. She was naïve and only knew the basics of human interaction on a very simplified level. Dealing with her was easy enough. Although she was a clone of the #3, she didn't have her strength, having to rely more on a firearm. As so as she was incapacitated, Accelerator attempted to leave, but the researchers told him that for the experiment to proceed, he had to kill her, much to his surprise. He tried to refuse, but the girl tried to fire at him again, only for the bullet to be reflected, killing her on the spot.

Accelerator was in shock. He had just killed someone, and he barely lifted a finger when it happened. It only got worse when the researchers told him he had to kill 20000 of these "Sisters" before he achieved Level 6. They told him they were clones, and thus not real, but it didn't help him deal with the guilt. The worst part was that the experiment had to be kept a secret, so Touma was not to be told. Even if he could tell his best friend, there was nothing Accelerator could do. He had blood on his hands and there was no turning back.

As the experiments continued, Accelerator felt is life fall apart. He and Touma hung out less and less as the experiments consumed his free time. He even missed Movie Mondays. When fighting the Sisters, he produced a fake personality in a feeble attempt to blame their deaths on someone who was not him, or at the very least not the real him. He even ended up meeting the original Mikoto Misaka during experiment 9982. He was just glad that he wouldn't be forced to kill her too, but at the same time regretted not being able to stop the experiment there by adding an outside factor. He only hoped the Mikoto would do what she could to stop the experiment. However, the experiments continued.

However, during experiment 10032, he saw another person intervene, the last person he wanted to fight, his best friend, Touma Kamijou. He didn't understand. Why was Touma there? He couldn't have known about the experiment.

"How?" Accelerator asked his friend, "How did you know?"

"I happen to be pretty close to the #3," Touma explained, "Besides, you know as well as I do that neither of us can keep a secret form the other. I keep shattering our illusions. I knew there had to be a reason for you to keep missing Movie Monday."

"But what can you do? They won't stop the experiment!"

"This whole thing started because you were believed to be the strongest esper, but what if you were beaten by the weakest esper?" Touma responded raising his right fist, "You know as well as I do that I'm the only one who can beat you in a fight. Just make it look real."

"You know, this is gonna hurt me a lot more than it hurts you," Accelerator said with a sad smile.

"I beg to differ. You've seen how often I end up in the hospital."

"Let's just make this look good," Accelerator said as he tapped his foot on the ground, creating a shockwave.

* * *

When the fight was over, Touma had managed to beat Accelerator with Imagine Breaker, putting an end to the experiments. Both of them had ended up in the same room at Heaven Canceler's Hospital, both enjoying each other's company while they recovered. Mikoto eventually came by to check on Touma and give him some thank you cookies. Of course, the cookies were store bought, prompting Touma to accidentally insult her by implying she couldn't bake, much to Accelerator's amusement.

At the same time, Accelerator took the opportunity to apologize to her for his involvement in the experiments. While knew he was not deserving of forgiveness, he at least wanted her to know how sorry he was. To his surprise, she did forgive him and hoped they could be friends and moved past it. After all, had he not participated in the experiments, the remaining 9969 Sisters would not have been given life to begin with. She then left, wishing the two boys luck for a full recovery. As soon as she was gone, there was something Accelerator had to ask his friend.

"Are you guys a thing?" Accelerator asked, "You guys argue like an old married couple."

"What are you talking about?" Touma replied, baffled.

"Come on, she's pretty cute. I fought 10031 different clones of her and they all had such cute little asses. I got a clear view when they ran away from me."

"Then why don't you ask her out then? You said it, not me."

"She just seems a bit childish to me," Accelerator explained, holding his chin, "Maybe if she was a bit older and bustier."

"What the hell, man? You're messed up," Touma laughed.

The two boys just continued to laugh, enjoy each other's company. His life wasn't perfect. Heck it was anything but. Practically nothing was certain in his life. But if one thing was certain, Accelerator was glad he had a certain Level 0 as a friend. To Accelerator, Touma Kamijou would always be a certain Level 5's best friend.

* * *

 **So, what did you all think? Keep in mind that while Accelerator may have been a bit out of character, that was the point. With more positive experiences, I was sure he would have become a much more pleasant person. Leave a review if you liked it.**


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